Lawyer denies torture charges

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Sunday, April 10, 2005

"We just wanted to tell everyone that these are horrible allegations and our hearts go out to the family and the victim, but Braden Lionetti didn't engage in this behavior. It was someone else on the bus that did it," Ridgefield defense lawyer Jennifer Tunnard said Friday.
Lionetti, 17, is charged with second-degree assault for allegedly jabbing the youngster, who is unable to speak, on trips to and from Ridgefield to schools in Trumbull and Bridgeport. Lionetti is charged with attacking him daily with a 4-inch knife and other instruments in September, October and November of 2004.
Lionetti's case is pending in Superior Court in Bridgeport. His next hearing is scheduled for May 11.
Tunnard declined to give more details about the case or give the name of the person who she believes engaged in the abuse. "We are not trying the case in the paper so I can't give you any information," Tunnard said.
The 10-passenger van the students rode took students to the regional Cooperative Educational Services school in Trumbull, which Lionetti attended. After dropping off Lionetti, the van would drop the victim off at Saint Catherine Academy in Bridgeport. The Diocese of Bridgeport school is for young people with mental retardation and other disabilities.
In response to claims Lionetti wasn't the abuser, the lawyer for the victim's family, Giustino Capodilupo, of Ridgefield, said "everybody has their theory of the case."
"They are trying to allege that someone else had done the deeds. According to my understanding, the person who was sitting next to my client on a daily basis was the defendant and they are trying to point fingers at another individual," Capodilupo said.
Lionetti and his lawyer were in court Tuesday, asking a judge to allow him into a special program that would wipe out the felony charge against him. However, a judge said the allegations were too serious and denied the request.
In court, the victim's mother told the judge that her son has regressed since the alleged assaults.
The victim was taken off the van and is being taken to school on another vehicle. "He's getting to school via school bus, but it's a different school bus," Capodilupo said.
The child would wear two pairs of shorts to protect himself from the abuse, sources said. Still, his mother noticed marks on him when he came home and would wonder what they were.
Another student ultimately reported the alleged abuse.
"In this instance, (the mother) entrusted her child to the care of the school. She was very concerned when her child would come home crying on a daily basis," Capodilupo said.